German Automakers Face Heat Over Tests on Monkeys, Humans

Revelations of the tests add a twist to the German auto industry's attempt to move past Volkswagen's scandal over cheating on diesel tests and the resulting questioning of diesel technology across the industry

Published at 9:33 AM CST on Jan 29, 2018

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In this July 24, 2017 file photo, a Volkswagen car parks on July 24, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. Germany's biggest car companies VW, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Daimler are being investigated on suspicion of operating a secret technology cartel.

Public criticism of the German auto industry has escalated on reports that diesel exhaust tests were carried out on both monkeys and humans.

The chairman of Volkswagen said Monday that the tests involving monkeys were "totally incomprehensible" and the German government condemned the reported experiments and as well as others involving human volunteers as subjects.

Revelations of the tests add a twist to the German auto industry's attempt to move past Volkswagen's scandal over cheating on diesel tests and the resulting questioning of diesel technology across the industry.

Volkswagen Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said tests were "totally incomprehensible" and must be "investigated completely and without reservation," the dpa news agency reported.

A report by the New York Times found that a research group funded by major German auto companies commissioned experiments in which one group of monkeys was exposed to diesel exhaust from a late-model Volkswagen, while another group was exposed to fumes from an older Ford pickup.

The experiments were carried out in 2014 before Volkswagen was caught using software that let vehicles cheat on emissions tests. They were intended to show modern diesel technology had solved the problem of excess emissions, but according to the New York Times report the Volkswagen car in the tests was equipped with illegal software that turned emissions controls on while the car was on test stands and off during regular driving.

Volkswagen admitted using the software in 2015. The Volkswagen scandal led to public scrutiny of diesel emissions as regulators discovered that other companies' vehicles also had higher emissions on the road than during testing, though not necessarily through illegal rigging. The industry has had to fend off calls for diesel bans in German cities with high pollution levels.

The New York Times report was followed by one in Monday's edition of the Stuttgarter Zeitung daily that the now-closed research group also commissioned tests in which humans were exposed to nitrogen oxides, a classs of pollutant. The group reportedly said the tests showed no effect on the subjects.

The German government condemned the reported tests on animals and humans. Transport Minister Christian Schmidt "has no understanding for such tests ... that do not serve science but merely PR aims," spokesman Ingo Strater told reporters in Berlin.

He called for the companies concerned to provide "immediate and detailed" responses, and said a ministry commission of inquiry that was set up after the emissions scandal broke will hold a special meeting to examine whether there are any other cases.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that "the disgust many people are feeling is absolutely understandable."

"These tests on monkeys or even humans can in no way be ethically justified," Seibert said. "They raise many critical questions for those behind these tests, and these questions must urgently be answered."

He questioned the aims of the tests. "The automakers have to reduce emissions of harmful substances further and further," he said. "They should not be trying to prove the supposed harmlessness of exhaust with the help of monkeys or even humans."